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| Eqrem Basha Poetry IntraText CT - Text |
Ballad
of the man the world did not know
(Baladë për njeriun që nuk e njihte bota)
Every
morning he sent letters off to the whole world
With imaginary addresses and confusing messages
And on them he licked the stamps of his suffering
The man the world did not know
He
rose and bowed to present himself
With arms raised he cried out to his own idols
He loitered in train stations, anticipated friends who never came to see
The man the world did not know
Every
day at dawn he waited at the gate
For the postman to bring him replies
To his correspondence from someone in the far wide world
The man the world did not know
Message
after message, words and requests
Not a scrap of dust on his typewriter
Not even the spiders came to rest in the room
Of the man the world did not know
And
one day he stopped living, he had no more ink
His quill dried up, his typewriter fell silent
Who is this poor fellow? they said when they found him dead
The man the world did not know
The
funeral parlour buried him
And put on his grave a tombstone
Only one letter arrived at his address
The bill for the burial
Of the
man the world did not know